Deepti Agarwal has an unusual problem. For over a couple of weeks now the senior engineering manager at India's largest online retailer Flipkart has been coaxing her 40-member team to pack up and leave for home at the end of the working day. But to no avail.

"They just sleep in the office," says Agarwal, whose team is at the forefront of an adrenaline-packed battle to win the minds, hearts and wallets of Indian consumers in the mega online festival sale that begins next week.

Every morning, loudspeakers pipe in music to wake up sleeping employees at the suburban office in Bengaluru where meeting rooms are now stacked high with mattresses and pillows.

There are yoga sessions to perk up those who haven't slept a wink, gaming rooms to de-stress and food at midnight.

"It feels like an Indian wedding," said Nitin Seth, the chief people officer of Flipkart. It may appear to be a carnival but the intent is deadly serious.

Chief Administrative Officer, Nitin Seth interacting with employeesFlipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal will unveil a bevy of offers to lure customers as they prepare for the biggest face off of the year, looking to garner a significant portion of their total annual sales during this burst of festive spending that will last for most of October.

"Big Billion Day means three things -the scale, the detailing in terms of planning and the thrill of it all coming together," said Panchali Upadhaya, a senior director at Flipkart. "Everybody is stretching beyond their work profiles and nobody is looking at the watch."

This is all directed at a single goal -rack up sales and keep the lead over rival Amazon, which has come out with all guns blazing and a marketing budget of Rs 130 crore for this festive season.

"The atmosphere dovetails well into our motto of "work hard, have fun, make history", said a representative for Amazon. The company's sale strategy is being directed from its office in west Bengaluru. There are special arrangements for employees to stay close to office, an initiative that both Flipkart and Snapdeal have planned on the all-important days in the coming week.

"At the Delhi office of Snapdeal, the mood can sometimes turn sombre. It's been rough for us to match heavily-funded companies like Flipkart and Amazon, but we have done our best," said an employee who handles business development.

"But we will continue to approach this with a sustainable vision," she said. And there is much planned by the company to ensure it is "chin up" at the SoftBank-backed online marketplace.

Saurabh Nigam, vice-president for human resources at Snapdeal, wants employees to bring families to work on designated days. "There will be monetary and non-monetary awards for top performers," said Nigam all through the festive month of October.

What's more, work will hardly seem like drudgery with stand-up comedy sessions, live food counters, flash mobs and jamming sessions planned "We plan to have Diwali melas," said Nigam.

RedSeer estimates that overall value of goods sold across all online marketplaces may not exceed Rs 10,000 crore in October this year, as compared to about goods worth Rs 9,000 crore sold last year.

For these companies who will battle for consumer attention, the first step in winning the minds of their employees seems to be well on course.

“This season, we will clear all speculations and win like an undisputed market leader,” said a senior executive at Flipkart as he briefed managers, 48 hours before the opening of the big sale. “The tech systems have been tested, we have the best offers and supply chain capabilities, there is no reason to fail,” he said.

(L-R) Vivek Perumal, Senior Director - Consumer Experiences; Arindam Mukherjee, Director of Product; Suvonil Chatterjee, Head of CX; Amar Nagaram, VP- EngineeringThe exhilaration, excitement and hustle was visible as employees milled around the sprawling office campus where rooms are designated as – War rooms – for specific functions. Any downtime was being used to pack in a quick game of Super Mario, Pac Man, Contra, etc.

“The message is simple we put our best foot forward and really make it big for our customers. The fact of a worthy competition makes the game a lot more exciting,” said Flipkart's Seth referring to Amazon India.